MERCENARY

Somewhere in the distant future a war-weary mercenary is returning to
his home planet in his Prestinium Falcon spaceship.
Suddenly his onboard computer, Benson, reports a damage alert. Further
investigation reveals severe damage to the navigation CPU, and the
consequent miscalculated course has a potentially deadly result: the
Prestinium Falcon is heading directly toward the planet
Targ.

The only course of action is to switch in reverse thrusters, and hope
the craft slows enough for a crash landing.

As thrusters reach their maximum, the mercenary blacks out under the
severe G force and later comes to in the remains of the impacted craft. Only
Benson’s portable module is working, and the mercenary takes it before walking
off into the sunset of an alien planet...

Most of Targ is a barren wasteland, but the surface is deceptive and
hides a huge subterranean city — the only major centre of population in the
complex of intersecting tunnel highways and caverns.

According to Benson, the original occupants of the planet were the
Palyars, a peaceful, sensitive people who led a contented existence till the
arrival of the Mechanoids, a race evolved from organic robots.

Though the warlike Mechanoids soon defeated the Palyars and became the
dominant race, the Palyars have not been completely defeated. The Palyar War
Council and the majority of their population live in a colony craft that hovers
high above the city.

Since the Prestinium Falcon is damaged beyond
repair, a new ship powerful enough to leave Targ must be found, a task which
requires exploration of the entire first-person 3-D world of Targ and
interaction with its inhabitants. There are three ways of achieving this
objective, the most obvious being to act as a freelance fighter for either
Mechanoids or Palyars and to reap the financial reward.

First, however, a means of transport is essential. Fortunately the
Prestinium Falcon has crashed near an airfield, where a
craft can be bought — or stolen, risking the retaliation of its owner. The
manoeuvrable craft handles like a plane; it can fly backwards as well as
forwards — very disconcerting! — and can also travel along the ground at a
reduced speed. The mercenary’s location on the planet is given by coordinates.
At location 9,6 is a hangar giving access to the underground city, which is
explored on foot. Most of the doors to the interconnected rooms and corridors
are oblongs, but a few are differently shaped — and locked. They can be
unlocked with keys of the same shape.

Reaching the Palyar colony craft isn’t that easy, as most of the craft
found on the surface are unable to climb to its high altitude. The ship that
can reach it is carefully hidden, and the only alternative is to find some way
of boosting your own ship’s power with the correct equipment.

Mercenary was conceived in 1984 when CRASH was young and
rubber keys roamed the earth; it appeared on the Commodore later that year
(ZZAP! 64 gave it 98%) and has since materialised format by format.

Now the CRASH reviewers think
the Spectrum Mercenary is a masterpiece, and at 96% it’s just one
point short of the highest CRASH rating ever.

Producer: NovagenPrice: £9.95Author: David Aubrey-Jones

CRITICISM

“At last! Live the legend as it bursts into Spectrum life.
Mercenary is a concept and a half. An entire alien environment has
been crammed into 48K, with a huge overground planet and subterranean city to
explore. What is most impressive, though, is the way the game is structured.
Taking an object to the Palyars can infuriate the Mechanoids to the point where
they won’t negotiate with you, and vice versa. Consequently, correct diplomacy
is essential to get the best out of both factions. The sheer depth and
involvement on offer is second to none, and the satisfaction gained from
progressing is paramount. Mercenary has a great past and now,
thanks to David Aubrey-Jones, Spectrum owners have the opportunity to give it a
great future.”

PAUL ... 97%

“I doubt very much if I’ll be able to finish such a complex game as
Mercenary for a few months — but what I have seen of it so far has
kept me enthralled. Mercenary is relatively unusual for the
Spectrum: it’s very deep, involving and creating a substantial amount of
atmosphere that is guaranteed to keep you up into the early hours of the
morning. The vector graphics work well and retain their scale from whichever
angle and at whatever speed you view them. Even on finishing
Mercenary you’ll be coming back for more — there are many
solutions to the deceptively simple conclusion. Packed with hundreds of
locations and functional objects, you haven’t seen innovation till you’ve seen
Mercenary.”

RICKY ... 95%

“After two years it’s arrived! Was Mercenary worth the wait? Well,
the game is immensely playable, and contains enough variety to appeal to fans
of all genres. Exploring the city of Targ is an experience in the true sense of
the word, and actually attempting to escape is a consistent challenge from
start to finish — but it’ll be weeks before you’ve discovered all the game’s
mysteries. The vector graphics are exceptional — very fast, extremely smooth
and uncannily realistic. They more than adequately convey the feeling that this
strange, 3-D world actually exists. Everything is there: all you have to do is
explore ... In a word, the answer to my first question is a resounding ‘yes!’.
Mercenary is a triumph of programming and aspires to new heights
in Spectrum gaming.”